Rain is not the enemy on a camping trip, or at least that is what I told myself before I read a piece on Swords Camping Supplies about keeping a tent dry. Water running under the tent is the real enemy. I learned the difference the hard way, on a night when I woke up in a puddle.

Higher ground first. Not the top of a hill, just not the bottom of a dip. Water collects in the low spots and it does not care that your pitch looks flat and beautiful. My rule now: if I can see a low place nearby, I am not sleeping in it.

The rain fly goes tight. Really tight, corners pegged out properly, no sagging panels. A loose fly flaps, flaps rub, and water finds its way through the touching point instead of running down. I check it once more before dark, because it always loosens a little in the first hour.

The groundsheet tucks in under the edges, never sticking out. If it sticks out, it becomes a little tray and channels water straight in under the floor. Tucked in, water runs off and away.

At home, everything gets aired. Tent, fly, groundsheet, all of it over a line in the garden or across a chair in the sun, until it is properly dry, even if it takes a day. Packed away damp, a tent starts to smell and the coating gives up.

And a small towel lives inside the tent now. One microfibre square, near the door. Wipe the inside walls before bed and you cut the condensation before it drips on your sleeping bag.